America's Unchallenged Youth...

[spacedteddybear]

Does anyone want to get back to the topic of Unchallenged Youth???

Disclaimer: I'm not a board admin so my opinion probably counts for LESS than most other folks around here.

Sure:

The problem nowadays, is that kids are being coddled at the elementary school level, which leads to having a belief in self entitlement later in their educational career. Simply put, they are overly protected from the concept of failure.
In elementary/middleschool, there are certain phys.ed activities which have been banned because it supposedly singles out the fat/skinny kids team pickings. There's even one case where a school banned jump rope because to catch your legs on a rope promotes the sense of failure.
By middleschool and/or highschool, you have to now pass certain exit exams to graduate. With some of these exams, you have the opportunity to repeatedly take those exams if you fail them. The questions on those exams don't actually need in depth knowledge in trig, or to know which word is the adverb enhancing a pronoun.
Even in some universities have programs/classes which coddle students who don't have the knowledge that they were supposed to learn in highschool. There are actual courses designed to help ease students into university level classes. Excuse me? Aren't you already in university? Shouldn't you already have some of the foundational knowledge that is required to take university level courses?

Eh thats enough for now.

 

[dronezero]

Even in some universities have programs/classes which coddle students who don't have the knowledge that they were supposed to learn in highschool. There are actual courses designed to help ease students into university level classes. Excuse me? Aren't you already in university? Shouldn't you already have some of the foundational knowledge that is required to take university level courses?

The reason for this is that a larger percentage of the population is now going to college. With this larger percentage of course there are going to be more students enrolling that are not prepared to deal with university life and curriculum, but at least they are giving it a shot. This is a sign of progress. It is a good thing.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Even in some universities have programs/classes which coddle students who don't have the knowledge that they were supposed to learn in highschool. There are actual courses designed to help ease students into university level classes. Excuse me? Aren't you already in university? Shouldn't you already have some of the foundational knowledge that is required to take university level courses?

Eh thats enough for now.

I breezed through high school with so little effort that I was shocked when I got to college and discovered I actually had to work to maintain my B+ average!

 

[Halon451]

Sure:

The problem nowadays, is that kids are being coddled at the elementary school level, which leads to having a belief in self entitlement later in their educational career. Simply put, they are overly protected from the concept of failure.
In elementary/middleschool, there are certain phys.ed activities which have been banned because it supposedly singles out the fat/skinny kids team pickings. There's even one case where a school banned jump rope because to catch your legs on a rope promotes the sense of failure.
By middleschool and/or highschool, you have to now pass certain exit exams to graduate. With some of these exams, you have the opportunity to repeatedly take those exams if you fail them. The questions on those exams don't actually need in depth knowledge in trig, or to know which word is the adverb enhancing a pronoun.
Even in some universities have programs/classes which coddle students who don't have the knowledge that they were supposed to learn in highschool. There are actual courses designed to help ease students into university level classes. Excuse me? Aren't you already in university? Shouldn't you already have some of the foundational knowledge that is required to take university level courses?

Eh thats enough for now.

Exactly. This was what I was trying to convey in one of my earlier posts. There is no differentiation between sucess and failure and it's being taught that way. We coddle too much, and while it may protect their feelings, it does NOTHING to prepare them for the real world.

What happened to the "push" to succeed? What happened to the idea that if you don't apply yourself and try, then you're not going to reap the benefits?

 

[aberkowitz]

Exactly. This was what I was trying to convey in one of my earlier posts. There is no differentiation between sucess and failure and it's being taught that way. We coddle too much, and while it may protect their feelings, it does NOTHING to prepare them for the real world.

What happened to the "push" to succeed? What happened to the idea that if you don't apply yourself and try, then you're not going to reap the benefits?

And this unfortunately has moved up to the university level as well with grade inflation. Just how many people at Harvard need to graduate with honors??? It kinda takes away from the honor of attending one of the top schools in the world when you don't really need to do any work to be "successful".

 

[spacedteddybear]

The reason for this is that a larger percentage of the population is now going to college. With this larger percentage of course there are going to be more students enrolling that are not prepared to deal with university life and curriculum, but at least they are giving it a shot. This is a sign of progress. It is a good thing.

A larger percentage of the population may be going to college, but the ratio of those who are capable of handling the work load to those that don't, should remain the same.
For example: If a university's freshman population for a certain year is 10,000. All but 100 are able to pass their classes. Skip ahead a few decades so that the freshman population has ballooned to 20,000 with buildings and classes added to make up for the increased population so that the quality of education is the same as it was. Then ~200 should be the expected number of dropouts. Whatever major fluctuations in that number can be linked to their formal education earlier on.
It's great that more people are more willing to attend university, but the quality of education should not be dumbed down to compensate for those who can't hack it, let alone fund such courses through redirecting funds from programs that teach at the appropriate level. There is a reason why university is considered "higher" education. University classes should be more difficult, and more should be expected of you. Why? Because at that point in life, you are almost intellectual equals to those who are teaching you.

 

[philh]

I wandered away from this thread when it had drifted off topic.

We have two kids in HS, Freshman and Junior. Our school district is a mess, with most of the kids not caring, and the parents not supporting. We, as involved and demanding parents are also having to fight the teachers. On a regular basis, I have to engage the ***'t principal and counselors. We have one teacher that REFUSES to enter the grades into the computer, until progress or semester report cards are due. Why does he refuse, because the union contract doesn't require it It makes it tough for us to track our kids progress on the computer. With our one kid, we have a implemented a travel card to track her daily progress, because she's bad about turning in homework. For awhile it worked and then her grades started slipping again. Trying to figure out how she's failing, because of homework, when we're getting these cards back every day saying she turned in her homework. At a meeting I demanded with all the teachers, discovered, they were checking yes she turned it in. Didn't matter if all she did was put her name on it, she turned in her homework <sigh>.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

We have two kids in HS, Freshman and Junior. Our school district is a mess, with most of the kids not caring, and the parents not supporting. We, as involved and demanding parents are also having to fight the teachers.

At least you care. A substantial percentage of parents don't, which is a big part of the problem.

 

[Halon451]

Or are just too outright lazy to handle the responsibilities of good parenting...

 

[stratman]

Yes, but remember one thing some parents are overwhelmed, they both work, sometimes it's not that they don't care or are lazy, but their economic situation makes it very hard to provide for a family while putting up with a system that's marginal at best and hostile at worst. Now imagine if the parents are immigrants and haven't mastered the language yet.